monday thoughts: art by kids

Full disclosure: My kids made this art. So I guess I should title this "art by my kids." Bias aside, I think it shows what's great about art by children that I was talking about last week: simplicity, color, directness.

That soldier painting might be my favorite piece of art in my house. Charlie made it in class two years ago, and we've been trying to get him to recreate the feeling—emotional, straightforward, pure of line and color—ever since. In the process, he's drawn a lot—a *lot*—of extremely detailed Star Wars vessels and Batman villains. So much for purity and directness. I mean, I enjoy Star Wars and Batman, but not as much as that soldier in the red hat. 

As for Tessa's parrot, nobody would praise its technical skill or subtlety. But check out that beak and that rainbow tail, and tell me she didn't capture the essence of that parrot. Tessa's parrot isn't affected by how she *thinks* a parrot should look, or how she remembers other drawings of parrots look. She doesn't know art history—the tropes and themes of other artists who have drawn parrots before her. She's not influenced by anything except the parrot (in this case, a photo in a book) in front of her. Of course, influence and art history are good things, but they can hold us back. They're noise and interference. They make us think we know less than we do. They make us question ourselves.

Tessa didn't have to tune anything out to draw that parrot. She just looked and copied. Her picture is direct and simple and confident, and any parrot I would draw wouldn't be nearly as parrot-y.

Meanwhile, the effort is the point, right? I'm definitely not an art teacher, but I do have a few words of advice for encouraging kids to make art. Go to museums, but make it fun for them. Fill your house with art that you love. Sign them up for a class. Look at what they make, and praise it. And good good art supplies totally matter—nice paper or sketchbooks, crayons (don't mess with a classic), gel sticks, cool pencils, color-changing markers. "Doodles"-style coloring books, especially the Taro Gomi series. These volumes are great for inspiration (and basic information). Ed Emberley's books have step-by-step drawing instructions that somehow manage to be funny with almost no words.

And now that I've gotten all earnest for you, read this for a good laugh.

amazing house

It's small but scaled just right and not cluttered at all.

Sometimes I come across a house that's just perfect. Like this one in Toronto, on the Marion House blog. Tons of natural light, clean smooth surfaces, just-right details:

perfect front door

light, airy kitchen with no upper cabinets

Carrara marble, zinnia, dotted towel

built-ins, bench, slate gray cushion

animal roundup

Bird

 
Animal imagery is never really off my list. Seems like this week it's especially on. I could fill pages and pages, but 'll limit myself to these:

Bird feathers count, right?

Crocodile necklace
(and lots of other creatures)

Owls

Duck (Sharon Montrose can do no wrong)

Bear

Antlers

me elsewhere: civetta

Come in.

Last week the inspiring Jessica shared her favorite artists with Blue Locket. Today I've given her a list of some of my favorite things in a favorite color. (And no, it's not blue.) Check it out here, and be sure to scroll through all of her gorgeous blog.

monday thoughts: children's art

Crown by Jean-Michel Basquiat

Today I'm launching a new series—my first series on this blog, in fact. Every Monday, I'll write a slightly longer-than-usual post about a particular art-related theme. It might be a movement or style or even just a color or subject matter. Today I've got childish art on my mind.
 
I think a lot about children's art (art both by and for kids, that is). I've got two of them, after all; this wonderful artist has taught them both for years, and making art is one of my favorite things to do with both of my children, from two-year-old Charlie covering his own torso with finger paint to the girly seasonal projects that Tessa will still tolerate. And next Monday, I'll write about art made by children. It might not be polished or technically impressive. But it's uninhibited, unconcerned with unnecessary detail. It's got a great sense of color. It's bold, quick, and totally not self-conscious.

Some of my favorite pieces of art (I'm talking about grown-up art now) have exactly those qualities. Picasso's famous comment is usually translated like this: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Nobody would argue that Picasso kept his childish genius. And that's what I look for in general. Look at Basquiat's crown. Or Serena Mitnik-Miller's watery, deceptively simple abstracted seascapes.

This almost looks like something Tessa could have made with her stencil kit.
And I mean that as the highest compliment.

Or Hugo Guinness's utterly simple and utterly perfect flowers.

He misses the detail but captures the essence.
He's looking at the overall form, like a kid does.

I grew up looking at this Jackson Pollock in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery:

"Convergence" is a classic example of the "my could could do that" genre.
(To which the answer is 1) but your kid didn't do that and 2) that's exactly the point.)

A few more wonderfully childish works:

Rachel Castle, an Australian artist
who does fantastic, graphic pieces in fabric as well as canvas and paper

Alexander Calder

Matisse did cutouts when his eyesight failed.

Another often-maligned "my kid could do that" artist:
Cy Twombly

In college I was lucky enough to study poetry with Kenneth Koch. He wrote this book on teaching poetry to children, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Koch's lessons (pare it down, be true, write what you know/see/feel) work for art, too. The art above shows that emotion, that directness. (Next week I'll write about how kids do it.)

guest post by jessica of civetta

Ellsworth Kelly

Today's post is by the amazing Jessica of Civetta. A preschool teacher in Seattle, she blogs about style, food, culture, and art—all things beautiful and important. She's got the most excellent taste, and she was kind enough to write about art for Blue Locket. I love what she has to say, and I love her choices of artists:

When Nadya so kindly asked me to do an art post, I was flattered...and then a little nervous! At the risk of sounding trite, I love art. Love it. (So unique, right?). But I don't necessarily have the vocabulary to talk about it in the way I might want to. But, I think that's true of a lot of people...or at least they THINK they don't know how to talk about it  And while I love art, I don't always love the people in the art world. My grandfather was an artist and an architect, and my mom owned a gallery when I was young, so I have been really lucky to grow up around art and artists...but with that can sometimes come art snobs. You know who I mean. I think it's such a shame that people might not be around art as much as they want, or speak freely about moves them and what they just flat out love...so with that, I will dispense with trying to sound like I "know what I'm talking about" and just share with you what I LOVE! And it should be said that part wasn't easy either...so there's no rhyme or reason to these choices, just a few things I keep going back to look at currently. Enjoy :)

Jenny Holzer

Landon Metz

Cy Twombly

Helen Frankenthaler

Michael Hainey

Gerhard Richter

anek on etsy

Plums print

So-called kitchen art isn't usually my thing: too cute, too precious, too obvious, pick your adjective. But Anek, a Croatian Etsy seller, makes prints that fall on the good side of foodie-adorable. The poster-sized ones are especially fun.

Food pattern print

Blueberry print

Italian coffee press print

Botanical herbs print